The present invention relates to a structure in an article for personal care like diapers, training pants, absorbent underpants, adult incontinence products, bandages and feminine hygiene products, which can accept liquid, distribute it and retain it.
Personal care articles include such items as diapers, training pants, feminine hygiene products such as sanitary napkins, panty-liners and tampons, incontinence garments and devices, bandages and the like. The most basic design of all such articles typically includes a bodyside liner, an outercover and an absorbent core disposed between the bodyside liner and the outercover.
Personal care products must accept fluids quickly and hold them to reduce the possibility of leakage outside the product. The product must be flexible and have a pleasing feel on the skin, and even after liquid insult, must not become tight or bind the user. Unfortunately, while previous products have met many of these criteria to varying degrees, a number have not.
The use of superabsorbents in personal care products has become common. The expansion of such superabsorbents upon exposure to bodily fluids, however, has been known to block further acceptance of liquid, a phenomenon known as xe2x80x9cwet collapsexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cgel blockingxe2x80x9d. Wet collapse eliminates void space for fluid to enter and can render the absorbent ineffective, preventing the absorption of additional liquid despite the availability of unused or unsaturated superabsorbent within. Superabsorbent expansion can also reduce or eliminate fluid distribution via wicking.
In order to achieve greater integrity and resilience, a variety of product construction methods and materials have been tried. These have included gluing absorbent core layers together, embossing the absorbent core layers, adding reinforcing materials to the absorbent core and adding a resilient element of the absorbent core to hold the structure open and retain void space.
Each of these approaches has resulted in some compromise in the absorbent and/or comfort features of the product. Glues and adhesives, for example, tend to be hydrophobic and so interfere with the absorption of bodily fluids into the product. Embossing increases the integrity of the absorbent core by increasing its density but in so doing reduces the void volume needed for fluid intake and retention. The addition of reinforcing and resilient material likewise has proven unsatisfactory.
There remains a need, therefore, for a material that will maintain its ability to accept fluid flow as well as absorb liquid without significant detrimental wet collapse.
It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide an absorbent structure that can accept fluids while maintaining void volume. It is another object of this invention to provide a structure that will xe2x80x9cwickxe2x80x9d or distribute liquid so that a greater amount of superabsorbent is utilized.
The objects of the invention are achieved by a distribution/retention layer for personal care products which is a nonwoven fabric having retention materials and distribution materials in a side-by-side configuration as rows, stripes, channels, etc. These rows may be continuous or discontinuous and may be straight, wavy, or in other patterns.
There is further provided personal care products having the absorbent structure as a component.